Arthur Hayes ran Maelstrom's trading book. Maelstrom is his family office in Singapore. Hayes also co-founded BitMEX, a crypto exchange he ran for years.
On Oct. 24, 2026, Hayes posted on X. He said he closed his whole Maelstrom trading book. He took profits on ETH, ENA and UNI.
Ether is the token behind the Ethereum network. Hayes sold 6,400 ETH in the move. That batch alone was worth $15.2 million, per crypto.news.
He sold six more tokens too. ENA, UNI, ETHFI, AERO, PENDLE and ZAMA all left his wallet. All seven sales together totaled $22.28 million, per crypto.news.
Lookonchain is an on-chain tracking account. It watches public wallets for big moves. Four minutes before Hayes posted, Lookonchain named his wallet. It listed every token he sold.
Hayes gave his reason in one line. "It looks a bit dicey out there in macro and geopolitical land," he wrote on X. He said he would wait for better conditions.
Why did this post catch fire? Hayes is a well-known trader. Nine days earlier, he said he held long Bitcoin and Ether, per Phemex News. A flip from long to cash in nine days moves fast.
By late morning UTC, the post had 1,975 likes. It drew 464 replies in a few hours.
What does this say about crypto people today? A trader's wallet moves now get tracked in near real time. Lookonchain published Hayes's full token list minutes before his own post went out. A private trade stays private for barely minutes now.
Hayes framed the sale as a pause, a step back from risk. He said he is sitting out, waiting for clearer signals.
The real test comes next. Will Hayes buy back in? At what price will he call the "all clear"?